OOC: Create a fantasy persona that lists your name/alias, gender, race, role, basic appearance, and skills.

Sample roles: Village Defender, Outrider, Lorekeeper, Beastmarked Hunter, Gravespeaker, Stormsinger Mystic, or Bladesworn Warrior.

Suggested voice: Ironsworn GM

Let's begin...

The wind howls off the sea, sharp with salt and cold, flinging spray against the jagged rocks below. You stand on the edge of the cliffs near Stonehaven, a fishing village clinging to the coast like moss on granite. The sky is low and gray, the scent of storm and smoke in the air. Waves crash endlessly, but it's the silence inland that pricks at your instincts.

A trail of blood, smeared and half-washed by rain, winds down from the woods toward the village. Something dragged itself - or was dragged - from the forest's edge. Crows wheel above, agitated.

No one greets you at the gates. No hammering from the forge, no chatter, no smell of cookfires. Just the sharp tang of iron and the quiet creak of wood shutters rocking in the wind.

Inside, the village is abandoned. Half-finished meals sit cold on tables. A spindle turns slowly in the breeze. A child's doll lies face-down in the mud.

Then you hear it - a scream. Sharp, sudden, feminine, then choked off. It came from the longhall at the far end of the square. You see its heavy doors ajar, wood scarred, hinges torn, something dark smeared across the threshold.

You've been here before. You know the villagers by name.

Now they're gone.

What do you do?